A group of women explorers had to put their record-breaking plan to cross the North Pole on ice - because of bad weather.

The trio - including Bradford mother-of-triplets Ann Daniels - had planned to start their epic journey on Sunday, but low-lying cloud prevented them from flying out.

They were set to fly out today at 8am.

Ann's mother Kathleen Hardacre said the family was keeping up with her progress via the internet.

She and her husband John have moved into Ann's house in the tiny village of Whimple, Exeter, to look after the children until May.

"The children cope really well. They obviously miss their mum but Ann is with them a lot of the time and devotes herself to them," she said.

The children celebrated their eighth birthday a week early with their mother and will receive another set of presents when they celebrate with friends.

"We do worry about Ann, that's only natural. But she has been out to the Antarctic a few times now. She knows what she is doing," said Mrs Hardacre.

Speaking to the Telegraph & Argus from Resolute Bay in Canada, Ann said she could not wait to start the expedition.

She said: "It was a bit disappointing when we first found out we couldn't go but then we thought we should be positive - it at least gave us one more day to get absolutely ready."

"The weather here is fine but we were not able to get to our destination."

The group of three, Pom Oliver, a 50-year-old building renovator from Sussex, Caroline Hamilton, 35, a film financier and Ann, 37, will make the 500-mile journey across the top of the world, encountering constantly moving ice, enormous ice ridges up to 30 feet high and plunging temperatures as low as -40C.

On top of that, each woman will be hauling a sledge weighing twice her body weight.

They hope to become the first all-women group to make the journey and raise funds for The Square Smile Charity, which specialises in cancer and mental health projects.

Ann said: "We have been in training for weeks now. This week has been demanding with us staying up until about 3am.

"We will just be glad to get out there. It is really exciting, we are getting a buzz out of it."

Ann said she had rung her children - Rachel, Joseph and Lucy -to say goodbye.

"When we found out the trip was delayed I rang my mum but didn't want the children to get upset again," she said.